Many companies and other organizations operate computer networks that interconnect numerous computing systems to support their operations, such as with the computing systems being co-located (e.g., as part of a local network) or instead located in multiple distinct geographical locations (e.g., connected via one or more private or public intermediate networks). For example, data centers housing significant numbers of interconnected computing systems have become commonplace, such as private data centers that are operated by and on behalf of a single organization, and public data centers that are operated by entities as businesses to provide computing resources to customers.
In large data centers, interconnect topologies that include multiple physical network paths between a given pair of resources are often set up, with roughly the same latency expected for packets that take different paths between the resources. For example, an interconnect comprising multiple tiers of network switches may be configured in a fat tree or Clos topology, with numerous output ports and input ports linking each switch to switches of other tiers. Although some switches may support the distribution or “spraying” of packets across all their outbound links to reduce workload imbalances, a failure of any particular switch or link of the interconnect may disrupt a large number of traffic flows in such configurations.
While embodiments are described herein by way of example for several embodiments and illustrative drawings, those skilled in the art will recognize that embodiments are not limited to the embodiments or drawings described. It should be understood, that the drawings and detailed description thereto are not intended to limit embodiments to the particular form disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope as defined by the appended claims. The headings used herein are for organizational purposes only and are not meant to be used to limit the scope of the description or the claims. As used throughout this application, the word “may” is used in a permissive sense (i.e., meaning having the potential to), rather than the mandatory sense (i.e., meaning must). Similarly, the words “include,” “including,” and “includes” mean including, but not limited to.